The Federal Communications Commission is challenging Disney’s broadcast licenses as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel.
An FCC official confirmed to The Daily Wire that ABC’s licenses are undergoing an early review, despite the standard renewal process that’s still several years off. Broadcast stations, including ABC, cannot operate over publicly owned airwaves without FCC licensing.
NEW: FCC orders the Walt Disney Company, American Broadcasting Company, and television subsidiaries to file early license renewal applications for their television stations.
“The FCC has been investigating The Walt Disney Company, its American Broadcasting Company, and its… pic.twitter.com/8KZzuyMIsX
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) April 28, 2026
The FCC has already scrutinized ABC’s broadcast license in connection with the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices. In an April 28 order, David J. Brown, chief of the video division, said the FCC has been investigating the Walt Disney Company for compliance violations.
“Specifically, the FCC has been investigating Disney’s ABC stations for possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination. While Disney’s ABC has purported to respond to two FCC Letters of Inquiry Federal Communications Commission DA 26-416 2 (LOIs) as part of this investigation, the FCC has determined that additional actions are appropriate at this time,” Brown said.
“The FCC determines that calling in Disney’s ABC licenses for early renewal, at this time, under the Communications Act’s public interest standard is essential within the meaning of agency regulations,” the order stated.
Disney will be required to file renewals for all of its licensed TV stations by May 28, 2026.
A Disney spokesperson confirmed the order and vowed the company will fight it.
“ABC and its stations have a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency information, and public‑interest programming. We are confident that record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment, and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels,” the company said in a statement to The Daily Wire.
If the FCC starts pressuring or reviewing licenses, local ABC stations could be forced to change how they operate — what they air, how they cover stories, even who they hire. That can trickle down into less freedom in programming or more cautious, filtered content. For everyday Americans, it could mean the news and entertainment you see is shaped more by regulatory pressure than just editorial decisions — especially on major networks you already watch every day.
The escalating FCC-Disney feud comes as conservatives called on the network to oust late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for joking that First Lady Melania Trump looked like an “expectant widow” — just days before a gunman attempted to assassinate President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ dinner.
“His monologue about my family isn’t comedy — his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” the First Lady said in a rare rebuke. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”
“A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,” she added. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community,” she added.
Soon after, the president piled on, saying Kimmel “should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
In a Monday night monologue, a defiant Kimmel defended his remarks and refused to apologize.
“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am,” he said. “It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination.”
“I’ve been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence, in particular,” he said. “But I understand that the First Lady had a stressful experience over the weekend … and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”
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